Thousands show to funeral for Edward Pearson

I have a sort of love hate relationship with these posts, and they come along fairly often. I love the fact that the veterans community and so many others come to pay their respects, even to folks they don't know. But it's just sad knowing someone passed away without actual family there.

Most of the 2,000-plus people who gathered in the Florida heat Tuesday didn’t know Edward Pearson. They knew little, if anything, about the life of the 80-year-old Army veteran.

But they knew of his death, and that was reason enough to attend his funeral. They came on rumbling Harley Davidsons and in sleek Mercedes. They walked into the service with the aid of canes and service dogs. Women clasped bouquets of white flowers. Men gripped American flags large and small.

Pearson, a resident of Naples, Florida, died Aug. 31. His obituary went viral when the funeral director included this sentence in the service announcement: This veteran has no immediate family and all are welcome to attend.

News of the ceremony at an open-air pavilion area at the Sarasota National Cemetery spread fast and wide in veterans’ forums and on social media networks. CNN host Jake Tapper and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio tweeted the information.

I know that our Twitter and Facebook pages were pushing the info out, and I saw people commenting on it, so proud we could help out a little.

Some folks are saying that the veterans community should have been there before he passed. Well, before you go there, make sure you read the whole article:

With Thrasher’s help, the community came together to secure a title for the home, fix the roof and pay a past electric bill. Pearson told Thrasher that he didn’t want to “be on the news” for his plight and was hesitant to ask for help at all. He was preparing to move into a new place when he died.

Comments

M.I A.P. (Missing in America Project) is one such program.
There are other groups that support the fact "We do not leave a veteran(male or female) behide".
When such an event occurs do your best to support our veterans!

M.I A.P. (Missing in America Project) is one such program.
There are other groups that support the fact "We do not leave a veteran(male or female) behide".
When such an event occurs do your best to support our veterans!

I ride with the Patriot Guard and nothing touches my heart more than seeing a vet leave this earth with no family members to care. My thought to that person is “Godspeed my Brother, I care and always will even if we never met. Some one loves you.

The report said Mr. Pearson was 80 years old which makes him likely a Viet Nam veteran. It would have been nice if the funeral director could have contacted the Military Personnel Records Office and requested to be provided his DD-214 discharge document. This document is a public record. Therein it would have stated his awards & decorations, assignments, rank at time of discharge, and other biographical information. Some of this data could have been used at his funeral to paint a clearer picture of who he was, and if he was a Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or a Marine..

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News from the World of Military and Veterans Issues. Iraq and A-Stan in parenthesis reflects that the author is currently deployed to that theater.